Remember how James Longstreet, Lee's right hand man went the way of all things last week? Well happy birthday to him! He was born in 1821, and if you recall your lessons, died in 1904. Born that same day was Union general W.H.L. Wallace. He was an Illinois acquaintance (perhaps even friend) of Lincoln, and a veteran of the Mexican War. When the Civil War broke out, he soon found himself as the commander of the 11th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Ironically, General Lew Wallace, also of the Union Army, commanded the 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment at about the same time. The pair met at Fort Donelson in 1862. Alas, not long after that came the Battle of Shiloh. W.H.L. was by then a division commander under Grant. Lew Wallace was then a division commander under Grant. Alas, W.H.L. was in command of a part of the Union line that nearly collapsed under the Confederate assault, and was nearly surrounded. He ordered a retreat, but was mortally wounded along the way. If there's any good news there, it's that his wife was in the area, and he died a couple days later in her arms. Lew Wallace, by the way, was a few miles away, and took an unfortunately long time to get his division on the ground, for whatever reason. He survived the War, and was the man who promised Billy the Kid the pardon that he never received. He also wrote a little book called "Ben Hur". So I guess The Other General Wallace did better than W.H.L. However, Grant and many other generals thought he was a terrific general and a brave man. Had he survived, I think we'd have heard a lot more about him.
If you're reading this incredibly fast, then you can probably thank our 1909 birthday girl Evelyn Wood. Do I need to explain who she is? After that intro, I hope not. Plus, I'm trying to keep things a little bit shorter today, so I don't want to go into too much detail.
If you're a big fan of F Troop- and really, who isn't? Then you'll be glad to know it's Corporal Agarn's 89th birthday. Or at least it's Larry Storch's 89th birthday. Good for him! Did you know he went to high school with Don "Agent 86" Adams? Well now you do! And in WWII, he served in the Navy with Tony Curtis.
A mere three years later, in 1926, came along comic, pitchman, and pie victim Soupy Sales. He had two older brothers, one of them nicknamed "Hambone" and the other "Chicken Bone, so "Soup Bone" was the natural next step. And no, I'm not making this up. At any rate, his nickname was too long, so it got shortened to "Soupy". He started working in Ohio but then moved up in the world and found a good job in Detroit, with a show he called "Lunch with Soupy". So you know he was cool!
1941 gave us Graham Chapman. Stop me if it gets too silly... Oh, never mind. You know it would, were I anywhere near as talented as he was. He and his friend John Cleese were writers in the 1960s, and eventually hooked up with the rest of the gang. He was apparently really good at coming up with off the wall ideas to make something even funnier. For instance, rather than a customer trying to return a defective toaster to a shop, Chapman suggested he return a dead parrot. The rest, as they say... Oh, and he was apparently a bonafide real life doctor. Which didn't stop him from smoking a pipe, and thus probably contributed to his death from tonsil cancer.
1942 gave us Stephen Hawking. Smart man, but a little goofy sometimes. He apparently just told an interviewer that the biggest mystery in the universe is women, or words to that effect. Well duh. You don't have to be a rocket scientist (or a physicist) to know that.
Do you enjoy reading any of the millions of titles in the "Shannara" series? Then wish a happy birthday to author Terry Brooks, born in 1944. He's apparently still cranking stuff out. I have to say, I've always been disappointed that there's no film version (to my knowledge) of his books- or at least the first couple. I think that, with proper direction and production (hint: Me) they'd be awesome! So if you're reading this, Mr. Brooks, let's talk.
Light my fire (or someone else's) for the anniversary of the 1946 birth of Robbie Krieger. Cuz you know, people are strange.
And speaking of strange people, happy birthday to David Bowie, born on this date in 1947. His name is actually David Jones, but he didn't want to be confused with that Davy Jones, born a couple weeks ago.
A tragic one from 1959. Duk Koo Kim was born on this date. Unless you're in your mid 40s, you probably don't know him. He was a Korean boxer, who fought against Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini in 1982. They went into the 14th round, which was when it all went wrong. Mancini went "boom" and Kim went down. A few minutes after the fight ended, he collapsed, and never recovered. He died a few days later. In the aftermath of the fight, his mother committed suicide, as did the referee of the fight. Mancini fought for a while, but was apparently never the same in the ring again. Oh, and Kim's fiance was pregnant at the time, which made the whole thing even suckier than it already was. However, there were some serious rule changes made after the fact, for whatever good that did.
Hey, remember on the 5th when George Dolenz was born? Well his granddaughter Ami was born on this date in 1969. To Micki, of course. (Well, his wife). She was way hotter than either Dad or Grandpa. Not sure what she's doing now, but she was in some movies in the late 80s and early 90s.
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